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Senate Dems wary after latest Platner revelations, but stick by him

Most aren’t calling for him to leave the race, or throwing their support behind Gov. Janet Mills, who still remains on the primary ballot even after suspending her campaign

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Senate candidate from Maine Graham Platner speaks at a town hall at the Leavitt Theater on October 22, 2025 in Ogunquit, Maine.

Senate Democrats sounded wary of Maine Senate candidate Graham Platner after the latest revelations that he had engaged in sexual conversations with numerous women while married, but most aren’t calling for him to leave the race, or throwing their support behind Gov. Janet Mills, who still remains on the primary ballot even after suspending her campaign.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), who recruited Mills to run for the seat to challenge Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) but got behind Platner after Mills dropped out, met with Platner in Washington on Tuesday and repeatedly offered a terse response when asked about Platner at a press conference, offering neither effusive support for nor criticism of the presumptive Democratic nominee.

“I met with Graham Platner today. We’re going to beat Susan Collins and take back the Senate,” Schumer said.

Asked whether he was standing behind Platner or whether Mills should restart her campaign, Schumer again said, “We’re going to beat Susan Collins and take back the Senate.” He repeated the same answer two additional times in response to subsequent questions.

Asked whether he’s still endorsing Platner, Schumer offered nearly the same line once again, while noting that he had “endorsed” Platner.

Other Senate Democrats are keeping Platner at arm’s length.

“He has to answer those questions, directly and forthrightly. They’re fair questions and that’s going to be on him to answer that and it’s going to be up to the voters of Maine to decide,” Sen. Peter Welch (D-VT) said on Monday. 

Welch said that Platner’s electability is “going to depend on how he handles it.”

Welch joined several other Senate Democrats who met with Platner at the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee offices on Tuesday afternoon. The meeting ran for more than an hour and a half, but Platner avoided reporters while entering and exiting the building, dashing from a side exit to an awaiting car on his way out, pursued by a throng of press.

“I oppose inappropriate sexual behavior no matter who does it, but it’s up to the voters of Maine to decide,” Sen. Jeanne Shaneen (D-NH) said.

Asked if she thinks Platner can still win, Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D-MI) told JI, “I’ll work with whoever wins.”

Sens. Andy Kim (D-NJ) and Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) both said they’d been focused on other matters — the ongoing demonstrations outside an Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in New Jersey and a trip to Ukraine, respectively — and hadn’t been keeping up with the latest on Platner.

Sen. Angus King (I-ME) declined to comment, saying he never gets involved in campaigns involving any sitting colleagues, regardless of party.

Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA), who said months ago he planned to stay out of the race but has been directly attacked by Platner several times, offered the harshest criticism of the candidate, and suggested he would be eager for a direct confrontation with him.

“I’d be happy to [meet him.] I’d love to. He’s a tough guy. When I was growing up, if someone had a Nazi tattoo, you could pretty much assume he’s a Nazi sympathizer,” Fetterman said, and referred to several of the scandals plaguing Platner’s campaign. “If you describe an American soldier, a Purple Heart recipient, as a dumb motherf***** that doesn’t deserve to live — who describes the U.S. Army as absolutely trash? Who joins a disgusting platform like Kik and puts a [topless] picture — what are you looking for? He’s expressed frustration [with] how I dress, and this a****** is on Kik and sexting to a dozen women and dressing like this.”

He told JI that his Democratic colleagues could be endangering the party’s chances of taking the seat by sticking by Platner, but said it’s ultimately their decision and that of Maine voters.

“The last time a lot of [Democrats] defended someone who was sexting and saying inappropriate things to women, that was Swalwell,” Fetterman said, referring to former Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA) who resigned amid a flurry of sexual harassment and assault allegations. “If they want to carry water for that, they’re entitled to that. I don’t live in Maine, I’m not a voter. Whoever Maine decides for that.”

Platner’s strongest supporters are standing firmly behind him.

Sen. Ruben Gallego (D-AZ) told JI that he is still confident that Platner can win the seat.

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), asked about the latest scandals, offered a similar response multiple times during the day on Tuesday, deflecting by discussing Republican megadonors’ spending plans in the state.

“There are some concerns that some of the wealthiest people in this country [backing] Republican super PACs are planning to spend $100 million in the state of Maine,” Sanders said. “Why do you think that Republicans super PACs controlled by billionaires want to spend a troubling amount of money to defeat Graham Platner?”

A group of people — at least one of them a spokesperson for the National Republican Senatorial Committee — gathered outside of the DSCC headquarters during Platner’s meeting chanting through a bullhorn and holding signs referencing Platner’s various scandals and, without evidence, accusing him of pedophilia.

A handful of them, including the NRSC staffer, were shirtless wearing towels wrapped around their waists, mimicking Platner’s profile photo on the messaging app Kik, where he communicated with other women.

Following the meeting with Democratic senators, Platner canceled a planned appearance with the campaign group VoteVets and left Washington, D.C. early because reporters had visited his in-laws’ home and his family’s restaurant, according to NOTUS.

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